Friends!
Ciudad Refugio (City of Refuge), our ministry partner for this month is bliss for the adaptable but torture for lovers of predictability. Our schedule changes every day, and we have but a vague idea of what the ministry has planned for us the following week. But I love it here! The ministry is doing so much for the least of these in the kingdom of God in such a self-sustainable way that is simplistically beautiful. (See my blog on First Day in Colombia! for details on this ministry).
Last weekend, our squad split our forces to run two different VBS’s. One group one went up to Manantiales, a community of Colombias displaced by internal conflict within their own country and living in a lot of poverty. I stayed here with the other group to run the VBS for children here in the community surrounding Ciudad Refugio. At the three-day VBS we danced to praise songs, watched Bible skits with the kids, helped them with crafts, played lots of games, and just loved on them. It was beautiful.
In addition to my World Race team, Ciudad Refugio was hosting a WYAM team from here in Colombia (in Spanish, JUCUM: Jovenes Con Una Mision). They were staying for a week at Ciudad Refugio and had arrived a few days prior to my team. The WYAM team (see the picture below) led the skits and dances for the kids and we helped them with everything else, which in itself was difficult due to a language barrier. Unfortunately, this led to an unintentional polarization of the two groups, and it really bothered me. Whenever the kids were occupied, the World Race team would hang out together and the WYAM team would hang out together and we would hardly ever intermingle, and so I decided to something about it. For the next few days I intentionally hung out with the WYAM team and we utilized their limited knowledge of English, my limited knowledge of Spanish, Google translate, and lots of hand motions, and we had a blast! By the end of the next few days we were best friends and the World Race and YWAM teams were beginning to mingle. Victory!
(From left to right: Vanessa, the JUCUM group leader, Lauda, Maria, Me, Kristian, Samuel, Juan)
An interesting side note to this experience with the WYAM team is that God revealed to me something about my leadership. I have pretty much always been told that I was a good leader, but I was often confused because my leadership style didn’t look like anybody else’s and when I tried to force leadership, it always ended badly, leaving me more confused. But after this experience with the WYAM team, God pointed out to me that I don’t lead by taking charge, I lead by building community. Mind blown!
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World Race has a strong policy regarding Sabbath, it’s actually really beautiful. Because our schedules are often so crazy and unpredictable, World Race does not emphasize the day we Sabbath but rather how we Sabbath. We have a lot of freedom to craft our own Sabbaths personally, but they all include personal time with the Lord and in the Word, as well as anything else that recharges us such as getting out, hanging out with friends, watching a movie, etc.
World Race also has allotted “Adventure days” in which we can go out and do something fun or adventurous in the area if we want. Sometimes we will all go all together, other times only a few people go. Since we have have ministry obligations on both Saturday and Sunday, we have decided for this month to have our adventure days on Mondays and our Sabbath on Tuesdays.
This past Monday, most of us went to Guatape; this fun little town a couple hour bus-ride away. It was a touristy town with a ton of shops, restaurants, and lots of bright beautiful colors. But the main draw of this little town was literally a humongous rock. I am serious. About a 10 minute tuk-tuk ride away from this town was a gigantic black rock that looked like it had been dropped down from heaven. Sometime ago people carved steps right into the side of the rock, so of course we had to climb it! Over seven hundred steps later we made it to the top of this solid fifty-story building and Wow, the view was spectacular! (These pictures don’t even do it justice).
From left to right: Top: Decor in the town of Guatape, Me with the sun in my eyes. Middle: The gigantic rock, Stairs going down the rock, The view. Bottom: The view again, An amazing rainbow with the shadow of the rock.
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Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to be a part of a long standing tradition of this ministry – handing out Aqua Panela (hot, sweet vanilla flavored water and a piece of bread) to the men and women, some as young as fifteen, on the drug laden streets in Medellin. Corruption is always frustrating, but here it is especially so. The police in Medellin have made a deal with the gangs that as long as the gangs, drug sellers, prostitutes, and everyone who is high on drugs stay within these established boundaries, the police will leave them alone. The result of this is that there are no gang wars on the streets, but it also means that in this corner of the city, hell is given free reign to do as it chooses. Thankfully, there is very little violence on these streets because everyone is too high to do anything but sit in a stupor with twenty to a city block next to the mounds of trash. It’s really sad. But in the midst of all this darkness, Ciudad Refugio comes faithfully every Wednesday evening to bring a little light. While a few people handed out Aqua Panela, the rest of us walked around in groups to look people in the eye, ask their name, talk to those who were semi-sober, pray for people, and give a little humanity to everyone we could.
While Aqua Panela was hard to see, what really broke my heart was our ministry last Friday. That morning, my team and I went to an elderly home. Here in Colombia, family ties are so strong that the only reason these people are there is because they were not wanted, like an orphanage for old people. But not for just old people. This tiny, simple facility is a “home” for all sorts of mentally incapacitated people as well. Of these twenty-five or so people, only about a quarter could hold a conversation and only about half could walk across the room. While we were there, I saw only two care providers for the entire group, one of which was working in the kitchen. While we were there we smiled, said hello, held their hands, tried to engage in simple conversation, and sang praise songs. I had brought my guitar and played along as we sang, some of the songs in English, others in Spanish. As we walked out of there, I felt like my heart was breaking. These people seemed so happy to see us, but I couldn’t help weeping inside because, aside from Jesus these people have literally no hope. Unlike the drug addicts from a few days before, these people had not chose this. It just happened and their families rejected them. Our visit was only the second or third time that Ciudad Refugio had sent people to this elderly home and they really want to start a more permanent ministry with them, so it is very likely we will go back. I know my heart hurts for these people because God’s heart is breaking for them too, so please be praying that I may have the heart to love them like He does.
Until next time,
Christy
